April

April

April Beekeeping Guide

Build strength now. Prevent problems later.

Here in Utah, April is when things start moving fast. You’ll get warm days, cold snaps, maybe even a little snow—that’s normal.

Colonies are expanding, drones are present, and swarm season is right around the corner.

👉 Your focus this month: keep the hive growing and stay ahead of swarming.

Items Needed This Month

  • Oxalic Acid (OA) for mite treatment
  • OA application tools (vaporizer or extended release)
  • 2–4 gallons of 1:1 syrup (depends on colony strength)
  • 1.5–2 lbs pollen patty (only if needed)

Start Preparing for May

Spring Inspection Basics

You don’t need perfect weather—you need to be efficient.

  • Ideal inspection temp: 60°F+
  • Acceptable: 50°F+ (just move quickly)

What you’re checking:

  • Eggs (confirms queen is laying)
  • Brood pattern (solid vs spotty)
  • Population growth between inspections
  • Queen cups (check inside for eggs)
  • Swarm cells (usually along bottom of frames)

If you see eggs in queen cups, you’ve got about a 7–10 day window to act before swarming starts.

For New Beekeepers (First-Year Colonies)

Your goal is simple:

Build the hive into two full brood boxes by June for our honey flow in Utah.

What to focus on

Feed consistently

If they aren’t touching the pollen patty, they likely have enough coming in naturally.

Add your second box at the right time

  • When 7–8 frames are drawn out with comb and covered with bees

Keep the entrance reducer on early

  • Helps them defend the hive
  • Remove after about a month as they build population

What not to overcomplicate (yet)

  • Advanced swarm control
  • Splitting hives

Action steps this month

  • Feed weekly
  • Watch for steady growth
  • Add second box when ready
  • Apply mite treatment if you haven’t already

For Overwintered Hives (2+ Years)

Strong hives will want to swarm. That’s not a problem—that’s a sign you did things right.

Now you need to decide:

Do you want more hives, or more honey?

Option 1: Make a Split (Growth or Sales)

Basic split:

  • 2 frames honey/pollen
  • 2 frames capped brood
  • Shake in nurse bees from 2–3 frames

Queen options:

  • Leave queen in original hive → split raises a new queen
  • Move queen into split → parent hive raises a strong queen
  • Introduce a purchased mated queen

Side by side split:

  • Divide equal resources
  • Remove all bees except queen to new split and let foragers fly back to mother hive for equal distribution of bees.

Queen options:

  • Add a mated queen to split
  • Let them raise their own queen

Feed the split and monitor progress each inspection.

Option 2: Control Swarming (Keep Hive Intact)

Double Screen Board

From the second brood box move all of the brood to the added third box above the double screen board and leave the queen below with empty frames for the hive to build out. The bottom and top will act as two separate hives. Upper hive will try and raise queen. You have the option to keep new queen or remove.

This:

  • Relieves swarm pressure
  • Simulates a natural split
  • Gives you the option to requeen

After a few weeks, you can recombine all boxes and use the third as a honey super or run them as two separate hives.

Checkerboarding (Simple and Effective)

Add a third box and swap frames:

  • Move frames 3, 5, 7 from the second box into the third
  • Replace those spots with empty frames

This creates space and gets the queen laying aggressively again.

No need to find the queen, and it works extremely well if you do early enough before swarm pressure builds. Keep and eye out for swarm cells. Swarm management isn't 100% guaranteed.

Remove Queen

Keeping your hive from swarming:

  • Remove or pinch queen
  • Let the hive raise a new queen
  • Add a honey super and wait for new queen

A hive won't swarm without a queen. Removing the queen and allowing them to raise a new one will give them time to move past swarm season without increased bee population and congestion of brood.

Follow queen development to insure her success. Keep notes and dates. Add new mated queen if unsuccessful.

Mite Management (Don’t Skip This)

If you haven’t treated yet, do it now.

Spring mites turn into weak summer colonies. Stay ahead of it.

April Action Checklist

Overwintered Hives

  • Apply mite treatment (if not already done)
  • Add 2nd grease patty (if part of your regimen)
  • Clean bottom board
  • Start swarm prevention
  • Feed sugar syrup to support brood build up or if weather limits foraging

New Hives

Final Thought

Strong hives swarm. That’s what they’re built to do.

Your job isn’t to fight that instinct—it’s to manage it in a way that fits your goals.

If you’re not sure what you’re seeing or what move to make next, reach out and ask.

Keep your Hive Alive.